June 9, 2009 Literary Arts

Do my calves look blue?

Steven Mayoff mixes personal reflections and lyrical style in his new book

by Pascale Rose Licino

Mayoff

Fatted Calf Blues Steven Mayoff Turnstone Press April 2009 150 pp $19.00

Steven Mayoff wants to drag you out of your comfort zone. In Fatted Calf Blues, his latest collection of short stories, Mayoff takes the reader to places that might seem familiar, only to reveal their poetic dimensions and tragic potential.

“I want to give the readers a feeling of, ‘This is familiar,’ and then tilt it a little, take them to situations they don’t know,” the author explained.

Each self-contained story offers something different: a passenger on a crowded streetcar in Toronto announces that he is the most important man in the world; a man travels from Glasgow to New Glasgow in search of a new lease on life; the parking lot of a truck stop in Manitoba is the scene of unexpected medical recoveries.

Mayoff’s stories depict a world where nothing is what it seems on the surface. He finds inspiration in the geological makeup of Prince Edward Island, a place he has called home for the past five years.

“There, you look at the water on a clear day and it’s blue, but underneath… rouge,” said Mayoff. “You first get the sense that it seems like a simple place, a simple life, but this red under the water, it has the feeling of an interior life.”

Fatted Calf Blues concentrates on the characters’ sensations as much as the mental spirals in which they are trapped. Though they try to push back the rules, they are often helpless and can’t escape their own nightmares.

“I like writing that has gut feelings. I want it to be a sensual experience,” said Mayoff, who also works as a songwriter. He said writing lyrics was like an apprenticeship for writing fiction.

“I was more drawn to the kind of lyrics that tells a story,” he said. “The principle of writing lyrics is economy, choosing the right word. Fiction works the same way.”

Mayoff is currently working on his first novel, recounting the story of his Romanian grandparents’ immigration to Montreal.

“The past follows you wherever you go,” said Mayoff. “I don’t think you can get away from it.”

Reading Fatted Calf Blues feels like taking a disturbing and compelling trip to the edge of human reason. Each story is likely to make you wince, but has the energy and rhythm to make you want to complete the journey.